EPA orders crane company to pay $42.6 million for non-compliant diesel engines

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered a crane manufacturer to pay tens of millions for alleged Clean Air Act violations.

On December 19, the EPA announced that Manitowoc Company, Inc., and two of its subsidiaries, Grove U.S. L.L.C., and Manitowoc Crane Group Germany GmbH, agreed to pay a $42.6 million civil penalty to settle allegations that the company imported and sold heavy non-road cranes with diesel engines that were not certified to meet applicable Clean Air Act emission standards.

The EPA alleges that between 2014 and 2018, Manitowoc imported or introduced into U.S. commerce, and sold non-road cranes with at least 1,032 diesel engines that were not covered by EPA-issued certificates of conformity. The company is further accused of failing to comply with Clean Air Act labeling, bonding, and reporting requirements.

In addition to the civil penalty, the company must also retrofit a short-line locomotive currently in service in the Sparrows Point, Maryland, area, near the Port of Baltimore where Manitowoc had imported cranes with the illegal engines. The EPA says that this project will “mitigate harm from the alleged unlawful emissions” from the illegal diesel crane engines.

“For years, Manitowoc imported and sold diesel engines that do not meet Clean Air Act emission standards, even after EPA made clear that such brazen conduct would not be tolerated,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Diesel exhaust is one of the dirtiest forms of air pollution and is linked to serious health conditions, including asthma and respiratory illness. This settlement requires Manitowoc to complete a project near the Port of Baltimore to improve air quality and once again makes clear that EPA will hold companies accountable when they sell illegal diesel engines.”

“Manitowoc’s sale and importation of cranes with uncertified engines violated Clean Air Act requirements designed to protect public health from harmful diesel emissions,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “This settlement highlights our commitment to holding violators of the Clean Air Act accountable, and will result in a tangible reduction in emissions in the Sparrows Point and Port of Baltimore area.”